Zoology

Research on animals in 2000 ranged from tiny hummingbirds to the giant extinct moas, delved into the evolutionary responses of prey to predators, and focused on dolphins to gain insight into the development of language. Issues in conservation biology continued to dominate concerns about wildlife on a global scale.

Dolphins were considered to be among the most intelligent of nonhuman animals because of their large brains, their advanced social behaviour, and their ability—observed in captivity—to communicate with each other by whistling. A study by Vincent M. Janik of the University of St. Andrews, Scot., provided evidence that dolphin whistles are used for social communication between individuals in the wild. Captive dolphins previously had been documented to repeat underwater whistles immediately upon first hearing them and to develop individualized signature whistles with distinctive frequency patterns. To test the effectiveness of whistle communication in wild dolphins while avoiding observer effects, Janik analyzed recordings of hydrophones that had been placed in an area inhabited by groups of bottle-nosed dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) in the Kessock Channel of Moray Firth, Scotland. More than 1,700 whistles were recorded in instances when an average of 10 dolphins were in the vicinity. Of the total number of recorded whistles, Janik was able to pinpoint the exact location for 991 of them by means of direction-finding techniques. From an analysis of whistle timing and location, he was able to identify cases in which whistles had received responding whistles from dolphins in other locations. Whistle matching, in which one dolphin responded immediately by repeating the signature whistle of another dolphin, was documented in 39 instances. The average distance between animals was 179 m (587 ft), and the maximum signature whistle and response observed between two animals was 579 m (2,000 ft). Imitating the vocalizations of other individuals was considered a key step in the evolution of language among humans. Because, other than humans, no land mammals were known to imitate sounds, study of the communication mechanisms and vocal interactions between dolphins offered a valuable opportunity to gain new perspectives on the origin of language and vocal learning.

The presence of predators was known to be responsible for the evolution of certain traits, including a variety of behavioral and morphological mechanisms of defense, in prey organisms. Ann V. Hedrick of the University of California, Davis, conducted experiments on field crickets (Gryllus integer) to test the assumption of evolutionary models that the fitness advantage conferred to males that exhibit conspicuous female-attracting behaviour is offset by their greater risk of predation. Male crickets attract female mates by calling, and the length of time that different individuals call is genetically inherited. Female field crickets generally select male mates with the longest calling times. Predators of field crickets, which include mice, birds, lizards, and toads, are able to locate calling crickets by their sound, as are parasitoid flies that deposit their larvae on crickets. Consequently, individual crickets having longer periods of calling are more likely to attract female crickets but also are at greater risk of being located by predators and parasitoids. In experiments designed to compare how male crickets having different call lengths responded to predators, Hedrick used two measures of predator avoidance—the length of time before a male left a protected shelter after exposure to a predator and the length of time before it began to call again. The study demonstrated that males exhibiting the most conspicuous and effective behaviour to attract mates also were the most cautious in their response to predatory threats. This result contradicted the assumption that the males that are most ostentatious and thus most alluring to females necessarily suffer the greatest cost from predation.

Rick A. Relyea and Earl E. Werner of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor observed a morphological response of prey to the presence of predators that suggested an adaptive process. The predators in this case were larval dragonflies of the genus Anax, and the prey were tadpoles of four species of frogs of the genus Rana. In each of the prey species of frogs, the investigators observed an ability to alter morphological development that depended on whether dragonfly predators were present. To assess morphological change in individual tadpoles, they conducted computerized image analysis of tail-fin, body, and tail-muscle measurements. For each of the four species of frogs, tadpoles reared with dragonfly predators showed significant morphological differences from those raised without predators present, which indicated a potential for plasticity in body shape for each species. (By contrast, the normal rates of growth and development of the tadpoles of each species were not affected by predator presence.) Many of the changes noted by the investigators, such as the development of deeper tail fins that increase swimming speed, previously had been shown to be effective antipredator mechanisms that could possibly have adaptive value.

Among the various ways that morphological differences within a species can be expressed is sexual dimorphism, in which members of the two sexes vary in body size or proportions and appearances of body parts. Charles Darwin gave three possible explanations for the evolution of sexual dimorphism. Two are sexual selection (selection for traits that improve mating success) and fecundity selection (selection for traits that increase reproductive output); in each case a reproductive advantage accrues to a particular sex. Examples of both are apparent in many species. Ethan J. Temeles and colleagues of Amherst (Mass.) College provided evidence in purple-throated carib hummingbirds (Eulampis jugularis) for Darwin’s third, rarely documented explanation of sexual dimorphism—ecological causation. The carib hummingbirds on the island of St. Lucia in the West Indies pollinate two plant species, Heliconia caribaea and H. bihai, from which they obtain nectar. Male hummingbirds are larger and have longer wings than females, but the bills of females are more than 30% longer and are curved downward at twice the angle of the males’ bills. In a census of foraging hummingbirds, all of 15 males were observed to feed on H. caribaea, compared with only 7 of 18 females, presumably owing to males’ defending their territories. Instead, females fed primarily on H. bihai. The two flower species differ in floral structure, with the bills and feeding times of males being more compatible with H. caribaea and those of females with H. bihai. The investigators concluded that the evolution of bill dimorphism had been driven by responses to specialization for the different flower types. In a comparison of wing length to bill length among purple-throated carib hummingbirds and several of their close relatives, no reliable pattern was apparent that might have been expected from phylogenetic similarity, which suggested that sexual dimorphism in bill length had been influenced by behaviour or ecology of the species.

Zoological conservation continued as an important issue for a variety of animal groups and species. R.N. Holdaway of Palaecol Research, Christchurch, N.Z., and Christopher Jacomb of the Canterbury Museum, Christchurch, examined information relating to the extinction of 11 species of moas, the enormous flightless birds formerly indigenous to New Zealand. The study provided the disquieting revelation that the elimination of all species had probably been completed within a century from the time of arrival in New Zealand of the Polynesian ancestors of the Maori, possibly as late as the 13th century. The investigators used human colonization rates and the human exploitation of birds, habitat loss, and numbers of birds initially present to develop simulation models to estimate the rates of decline. In order not to underestimate the time necessary for extinction to have occurred, the most conservative figures were used for each variable. Even when only 100 original colonists and a large original population of 160,000 moas were assumed and when the environmental impact of habitat loss was discounted, none of the models yielded a span of more than 160 years between the arrival of the Polynesians and the extinction of the birds. From a conservation perspective, it was significant that a small number of original colonists exploiting a long-lived animal species with a low reproductive rate could cause adult mortality rates high enough to render extinct a major portion of a region’s fauna in a relatively short time.

The applicability of the moa study to modern species was reinforced with the report by investigators from the University of Georgia’s Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, Aiken, S.C., that documented the decline of representatives of all major groups of reptiles on all continents within the past century. As had been reported previously for amphibians, many reptile populations were unquestionably declining in size and abundance on a global scale. When coupled with the problems experienced by amphibians, the evidence suggested that a worldwide crisis was in progress. The causes of declines for both reptiles and amphibians were known with certainty in many instances and were suspect in many more, the six most commonly identified threats being habitat loss and degradation, introduced invasive species, environmental pollution, disease and parasitism, unsustainable commercialization, and global climate change. The study emphasized that the decline and disappearance of populations of reptiles and amphibians or, in some instances, of entire species can occur with little awareness even by biologists. The threats to these animals, as well as to other wildlife, had to be viewed as a serious worldwide situation not only by scientists but also by the general public and government policy makers.

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